Ash from rumbling volcano forces Bali airport to stay shut

Plumes of ash from a rumbling volcano forced Indonesian authorities to close Bali’s airport for a second day Tuesday, as a threatened eruption stranded tourists and forced mass evacuations.

Tens of thousands of frightened people have fled their homes near Mount Agung, which looms over the resort island, as experts raised the alert level to maximum and warned it could erupt at any moment.

Towering columns of thick grey smoke have been belching from the volcano since last week and in the last few days have begun shooting into the sky, forcing all flights to be grounded until at least Wednesday morning.

“The Volcanic Ash Advisory shows that the plane routes have been covered by volcanic ash, this is dangerous for the flights,” Wisnu Darjono from the air traffic agency AirNav official said, referring to a global network of experts that supplies volcano-related information.

Some 40 000 people have abandoned their homes in the danger zone but as many as many as 100 000 will likely be forced to leave, disaster agency officials have said.

“Volcanic ash is still spewing. It’s thick and rising very high, up to three or four kilometres from the crater,” said I Gede Suantika, an official at Indonesia’s volcanology agency.

“Activity at Mount Agung remains very high. It’s still on the highest alert level,” he added.

The exclusion zone around Agung, which is 75 kilometres away from the beachside tourist hub of Kuta has also been widened to 10 kilometres.

As of Tuesday some 443 flights had been cancelled, affecting more than 120 000 passengers in Bali, a top holiday destination that attracts millions of foreign tourists every year.

The airport on nearby Lombok island, also a popular tourist destination east of Bali has opened and closed several times in the past few days. It is currently open but may yet be shuttered again, officials said.

Mount Agung last went off in 1963, killing some 1 600 people in one of the deadliest eruptions ever seen in a country with nearly 130 active volcanoes.